Milking apparatus.



PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906.

B. E. GOOD.

MILKING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, 1905.

wfziwsm .UNITED "s'rAgasr gnnr OFFICE.

- I EZRA E. soon, F 'WATERLo fIoWA, ASSIGNOR TO THE SANITARY oow MILKING COMPANY, or PORATION or IOWA.

' MIL/KING APPARATUS.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, A non- Patented Feb. 20, 1906.

Application filed J ne 10, 1905. Serial No. 264 574.

ereby declare the following to beafull, clear,

and exac description of the invention, such as will e able others skilled in the art to which it a per ains to make and use the same.

y invention relates to a cow-milkin apparatus of the character wherein mi k is drawn from the cow throu h tubes and by the action of suction or partia vacuum produced in said tubes by an airpump.

My invention has for its object to provide an im roved device for producing pulsations or variations in the suction or partial vacuum whereby a npilking action is produced which is more nearly like that produced by the hands in the ordinary milking action, thereby greatl increasing the efficiency of the apparatus and: further, producing an action which is more agreeable to the cow.

In the accompanyin drawings, which illustrate my invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating.

my inventionincorpo'rated in an apparatus attached to the-stalls of a barn and applied to several cows. Fig. 2 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, illustrating,

on a larger scale than in Fig. 1, the improved valve mechanism by means of which the pulsating action is produced; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken through the valve and showing the same on a larger scale than in Fig 2.

, he numeral 1 indicates thefloor, and the numeral 2 the stall-posts rigidly secured in the usual or any suitable way.

The character 2 indicates the cows within the stalls and which are being milked by the improved apparatus.

The numeral 3 indicates an air-pipe which leads to an air-pump, (not shown,) but by means of which the partial vacuum is produced in the various tubes and ipes of the milking apparatus. At one end. theipipe 3 leads from a horizontally-extended pipe 4, havin depending branches 5, of which branc es there is one for each stall. In the upper ends of the branch pipes 5 are valves 6, by means of which the branch pipes may independently open and close at will.

The numeral 7 indicates a vacuum-gage which is in communication with the pipe 4.

The numeral 8 indicates amilk-can whichis provided with a removable cover 9 of the usual or any suitable construction which will make the can approximately air-tight. One of these cans 8 is connected to each of the branch pipes 5, preferably by means of a flexible hoseor air-tube 10, that opens into the upper portion of said can. Another flexible tube or hose section 11 opens into the upper portion of said can 8, and this tube in the apparatus illustrated is provided at its outer end with branch tubes 12 and teat-cups 13 of the construction and arrangement set forth and claimed in the patent to Joseph H. Hoover, No. 798,608, of September 5, 1905, and entitled Milking Apparatus.

The device for producing the pulsations in the vacuum or suction pipes or tubes of the apparatus is preferably located at that end of thepipe 4 which is most distant from the pump connecting pipe 3, and, as shown, the said pipe \4 at said end is rovided with a downturned section 4*, in t e lower end of which is a removable plug 14. This plug 14 affords a valve-seat and is provided with'a tapered perforation that fits a tapered vertically disposed valve 15. This valve 15is provided with an axial port 16, that opens at the lower end thereof, but terminates short of the upper end thereof, the upper end of said valve being preferably enlarged slightly, as shown at 16. The upper end of the port 16 communicates with radial-extended and outwardly-flaring ports 17, that are closed when the valve is in a seated position. At its lower end the port 16 is provided with radial ports 18, that are always open to the atmosphere. A weight 19 is attached to the valve 15 by means of a rod 20,- which rod, as shown, is

hooked throu 'h a perforation 21 in the lower end of said va ve.

The force of the weight 19 on the valve 15 should be such that the said valve will be opened up whenever the pressure within the ai rtubes is reduced to about one-half atmospheric pressure. In practlce I have found that with this arrangement the valve when it opens u will under its own momentum and that o the weight 19 be caused to jump and open up to a very considerable extent, so

,that before it again closes under theaction of When the valve opens up, a large supply of air is aiforded through the axial port 16 and radial ports 17 and 18, and air will also'be admitted between said valve and its tapered seat in the plug 14. When the valve is closed, the ports 16, 17, and 18 will of course be'filledwith air, so that the air has but a short distance to travel from the outer extremities of the port 17 into the dependin section 4 of the airpipe 4. The tapere form of the port 17 also facilitates a ra id supply of air.

A spring-seated valve would not be the equivalent of a weighted valve, because a spring would tend to close the valve instantly.

upon the least increase of pressure within the pipes and tubes of the apparatus, whereas (as already ointed out) the weighted valve acquires s cient momentum to insure good opening of the valve.

The device above described is extremely simple and of small cost. It has been put into actual use in an apparatussuch as that illus trated in the drawings and hasbeen found,

extremely .efiicient for the purposes had inview.

normally closed,- but which ports are in con- 1 substantially as described.

- 2 In a milking apparatus, the combination with one of the air-pipes having a depending section 4, of a plug 14' in the lower.

stant communication with the atmosphere,

I end of said section 4, a weighted valve 15-1 having a tapered seat in sai plug 1 1, said --5 valve having the axial port 16 and flaring radial port 17, which ports 17 are normally closed and which ports 16 and 17 are in con v stant communication with the atmosphere, substantially as described. I

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EZRA E. 'Witnesses: I

HQD. KrLGoRE, RD. MERQHA 

